SEARCHING SUTTAS, DOING DHAMMA - Piya Tan

SEARCHING SUTTAS, DOING DHAMMA

With a growing number of scholars who are experts in Pali, and with more and better translations of the Pali texts, we have today more people than ever, not just Buddhists, but anyone interested in Buddhism, who know the suttas much better than the modern monastics of the world.

My point is that it is not just a matter of reading and knowing the suttas, but “searching” and living the suttas, so that we walk the path of awakening.

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PROFESSIONALS

As in any written texts, even sacred text or scripture, they can be and often are misused by the clever and the cunning. This problem takes a rather insidious turn in local Buddhism. For many “professional” teachers, teaching the suttas seems to be merely an extension of their profession.

In other words, the fact that they have some kind of professionalism, academic qualification or social status is sufficient as qualification or entitlement to speak on the suttas or anything Buddhist.

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ANYONE WHO CAN SPEAK

Here is a real-life story. A Buddhist temple once invited a respectable professional because he seemed to have shown some interest in Buddhism. He spoke to a crowded hall of respectfully attentive audience. His talk, however, was highlighted by the belief in God and the eternity of the Soul!

Finally, a concerned Buddhist stood up and told the speaker that Buddhists neither subscribe to any God-idea nor believe in an eternal Soul. “Oh, I’m sorry,” at least he apologised, “but I am a Christian; I believe in God and the Soul!”

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LAUGH REFLEX

This is clearly embarrassing and plainly unwise. In some cases, we even have non-Buddhists who have been invited or accepted to run Buddhist social projects for years before anyone even suspected they were not Buddhists!

On a more insidious level, we should question ourselves how well we have understood, not to mention live and love, the suttas to speak so expertly on any of them, and to present them like some secular coffee-table subject to joke about.

Some local Buddhists, it seems, have reflexively laugh whenever they hear  Buddhism which is different from the way they think. Humour is sometimes defined as coping with the incongruous!

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FAKE TEACHINGS

When we are observant and concerned enough, we may wonder why some Sinhalese monks and their local followers speak of “transfer of merits,” as if good karma is some negotiable thing we can pass on to the dead (whether they can have it or not). No such teaching is found in any sutta. Perhaps, they wishfully equate this with “transfer of foreign currency” that have actually benefitted them since they came here.

Then, we righteously and loudly claim that we support LGBTQ rights, mainly because it is a “cool” thing to do: it gives us populist mileage; it attracts wealth. Are we then exploiting sex? Have we seriously examined or discussed the sutta teachings on sexuality, sexual identity and sexual morals?

Are monastics experts in these areas? Here’s a catch-22: if they do, why are they monastics?; if they don’t, why are they monastics?

The point is that monastics need not pretend to know everything; they must certainly know the Buddha Dhamma. What's the point of having a PhD or a lot of money when we cannot end suffering or reach the path in this life? Have we no faith in the the Dhamma?

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ENDING SUFFERING

Let me not mention the sinister misquoting of the suttas—fake quotes—to promote racist ideas, social intolerance and religious violence amongst some quarters of ethnic Buddhists. The point here is vital and simple: we need “interpretive competence.” We must constanty ask how do we apply the Dhamma to our life.

It is not a matter of coming up with a different meditation or a new way of teaching Dhamma. We must competently present the suttas—only for explaining “suffering” and “ending suffering,” as the Buddha declares in the Anurādha Sutta (S 22.86), SD 21.13. This we must do well--with our life, with our love.

FEEL THE DHAMMA

The emphasis here is not merely on the act of “reading” or even “studying” the suttas (though these may have their own merits). It is about diligently “searching the suttas.”

The suttas are unlike other religious texts where the FIAT lies in the words. When we see the words of the suttas, we are FREED from our self, from self-delusion. We can FEEL the Dhamma, directly know the Dhamma, we then really see the Buddha.

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BETTER HUMAN

The suttas are a vital record of the Buddha’s SELF-AWAKENING and those lives of the great saints of his time. These are an eye-opening adventure for us, with our eyes wide open to new and better possibilities of being human.

And when we CLOSE our eyes, we SEE more of our heart and FREE our own divine qualities of love, ruth, joy and peace. The message of the suttas is that the path has been cleared again by the Buddha. He urges us to go on our journey from here to that path of awakening, and on to time-free nirvana.

MASTERING DHAMMA

Like going on any long journey, we need to be properly equipped to search the suttas—we need to master, at least, love language and literature—so that we understand the significance and nuances of the texts, and live the Buddha-word in our lives.

A musician must be able to read notes or at least be diligent in practising on his musical instrument to be competent and skilful players. Even then, not every musician is able to present the full potential of a piece of music.

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GOOD MUSIC

Good music calls for more than just knowing how to play an instrument, or even playing a piece well. The experience is richer when we understand music theory, playing techniques, and the life behind the composition.

Then, our enjoyment of that music will be far richer and rewarding. This is not to say that a good musician must be disciplined and diligent in order to engage music at its deepest and highest levels.

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SUTTA BACKGROUND

So it is with reading the suttas. The more we know about these earliest records we have of the Buddha’s life and teachings, the better we appreciate them. The more we know about their social, cultural and political environment, about their literary and rhetorical texture, and about our own self-conscious reading of these living words, the more likely we are to enter into meaningful dialogue with the suttas, so that we can fully, creatively, and responsibly grasp and give their intended sense and significance.

We understand the text; we appreciate the context.

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DOING DHAMMA

“Doing Dhamma” is different from talking Buddhism. Buddhism is secondary to living the DHAMMA. Buddhism is our often less-than-human exploitation of the Buddha’s teachings. The Dhamma is our desire to learn and discover ourself; to train our mind; to brighten and free our heart; to see and walk the path of awakening. All this requires honesty, courage, diligence and competence.

The one purpose of the SUTTA DISCOVERY (SD) translations with its modern commentaries is, hopefully, to create awareness of the truth and beauty of the Dhamma and respond to them wholesomely. To do this, we need to cultivate insight and skill in relevant areas, and to experiment with interpretive reading strategies so that we understand the suttas, so that we live and love them.

This can be done alone, but it is more fruitful when done together with others, and with the friendly guidance of a facilitator who has well searched and is still joyfully searching the suttas

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